Social cognition in mild cognitive impairment and dementia: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Our findings demonstrate differences in social cognition between MCI and dementia, particularly in emotion recognition and ToM, with more pronounced impairments in people with FTD than those with AD. These findings support that social cognition declines with disease progression and suggest the clinical value of social cognition assessments in distinguishing people at risk of progressing from MCI to dementia. Studies should develop and evaluate targeted interventions for social cognition in people with MCI or early dementia. Longitudinal studies are needed to further clarify the predictive role of social cognition in the progression from MCI to dementia, and to explore how these deficits vary across MCI subtypes and relate to specific dementia outcomes.